


The Regulars

by Salty_Libra



Category: Hazbin Hotel (Web Series)
Genre: First Meetings, Gen, Original Character(s), Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-19
Updated: 2020-06-19
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:22:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24812263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Salty_Libra/pseuds/Salty_Libra
Summary: I decided I'd take a little risk and dabble with some OCs. This particular little fic is a gift for Naja (@nadairead on Twitter) featuring her snake OC of the same name. I also threw in some references to a few other OCs, as well as my own, a not-so-subtle spider who I've dubbed "Slinger," for the moment. This is not my usual Pentniss work, but I will say that I decided to write it in the same general "continuity" or "universe," so to speak. Hope you all enjoy this little foray into something different, and if so, I might try some more like it in the future!Note for Naja: I'm don't know if I nailed it, and I'm sure I didn't at least somewhere, but I tried to approximate what I'd imagine to be Naja's personality. I'd have asked permission to use her first, but I kinda wanted this to be a surprise - that being said, if you want this taken down, don't hesitate to ask! Otherwise, I hope this cheers you up c:
Kudos: 16





	The Regulars

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Naja (@nadairead)](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Naja+%28%40nadairead%29).



> I decided I'd take a little risk and dabble with some OCs. This particular little fic is a gift for Naja (@nadairead on Twitter) featuring her snake OC of the same name. I also threw in some references to a few other OCs, as well as my own, a not-so-subtle spider who I've dubbed "Slinger," for the moment. This is not my usual Pentniss work, but I will say that I decided to write it in the same general "continuity" or "universe," so to speak. Hope you all enjoy this little foray into something different, and if so, I might try some more like it in the future!
> 
> Note for Naja: I'm don't know if I nailed it, and I'm sure I didn't at least somewhere, but I tried to approximate what I'd imagine to be Naja's personality. I'd have asked permission to use her first, but I kinda wanted this to be a surprise - that being said, if you want this taken down, don't hesitate to ask! Otherwise, I hope this cheers you up c:

Naja looked up at the worn sign above the bar door. She could barely make out the name, simply "The Nest," scrawled across a wooden board in faded paint. The place was subtle, almost dull, barely noticeable all the way on the outskirts of the city, yet somehow it had a magnetic pull that seemed to draw the snake towards it. She decided to go inside. 

Naja didn't attract much attention as she slipped into the bar - a few passing glances, at most. The place wasn't very crowded, empty enough that most of the booths and tables were unoccupied, with most of the occupants gathered in groups scattered across the bar. As she made her way further in, the floor creaked slightly, drawing a few more odd glances. 

Naja looked around and took in the chaotic mix of faces around the room. Although the bar was largely empty, the occupants were a motley crew, ranging from several snakes like herself gathered in a booth, all the way to a duo of winged creatures, one an odd cat and one something Naja couldn't quite make out beyond how sleepy they looked, playing cards in the corner. The bartender was a blind demon in a leather jacket, currently busy wiping down glass mugs with a bar cloth. There was a spider in a black leather trench coat and a cowboy hat sitting alone in the corner with a glass of what curiously appeared to be chocolate milk, alternating between typing on his phone and constantly scanning the room as though he were only there to people-watch, despite the large revolvers sitting comfortably in worn holsters on his hips.

Yet of all the curious and unique individuals, Naja's eyes fell on a small, sharp-dressed black spider sitting near the end of the bar, quietly minding his own business with a glass of whiskey, either oblivious or indifferent to the circus of weird individuals around him. He took the occasional sip from his drink and kept his eyes, all eight of them, to himself and to the beat-up TV hanging above the bar, playing some trash news station that he clearly wasn't actually watching. She couldn't put her finger on it right then, but something about the spider interested...no, intrigued her. 

Not confident enough to actually sit down next to him, Naja sat down quietly a few seats down from the spider and ordered a beer for herself, unsure whether she should try to blend into the background or try to stand out and get his attention. She spared the occasional glance to the left to look at him, but he seemed entirely unchanging, still just staring blankly into the void, picking up his drink every now and then for a small sip. 

She took a swig from her beer and tried to slip a casual glance to her left again, but this time the spider was looking back at her. It wasn't a sparing glance, either - he was looking intensely, like he was reading her. The moment probably lasted no more than a few seconds, but it felt like it dragged on for an eternity, before she realized she had frozen in place holding her bottle of beer up in the air. She quickly set it back down and looked away to her right, trying to hide her sudden awkward blush.

"You're like me, arent'cha?" 

Naja's head spun back to the left to find that the spider had gotten up and moved over several seats to the bar stool next to her, without making so much as a sound, not even a creak on the floorboards. His Italian-accented voice was slightly raspy, probably for the same reason she smelled hints of cigarette smoke on his breath.

"What do you mean?" 

"You're like me. It's practically written all over your face." 

She raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Stressed out, short on time, tired a' people, always bein' told to be somethin' you're not?" The spider took a sip of his drink. "Any a' those ring a bell?"

Naja looked down at her glass. Guilty as charged. "Maybe a few." 

"That's why you're here. People like us always make our way here. Dunno why." He waved his hand vaguely around the room to indicate where he was talking about. 

Naja tilted her head, silently begging for elaboration. The spider had already caught her interest, but now he had her attention.

"Look around ya'. Not a soul here who doesn't know how that feels on some level or anotha'." He shrugged. "We don't fit in anywhere else, so we fit in with each'otha. Somethin' about this place just attracts folks like us."

"How did you first find it?"

"Wandered here after a fight with ma' Pops. Told me to do somethin' I didn't want to do. Ended up doin' it anyway." He shrugged again, something that seemed to be a common gesture for him. "How 'bout you? How'd you end up here?"

"I just kinda...did. Not really sure why, it just looked like a good place to go." 

The spider laughed. It was an odd sound, like the laugh of someone who didn't entirely know how to. He took another sip from his drink, once again vaguely motioning to the scattered crew behind him. "Yeah, sounds about right. That's how we all got here."

Naja heard a slight vibrating sound from the spider's pocket, and he pulled out his phone. She spared a peek at the screen and saw a text message notification from a contact - oddly labeled "Scam Caller" - reading "OMW home, see u there." The spider quickly stowed the phone before pulling a wad of cash out of his pocket and laying it down on the counter to pay for his drink. He paused for a moment, looked at Naja's half-empty bottle of beer, and put down some more, not saying anything of it.

"Well, I hate to cut this short, but I've gotta get goin. It was nice talkin' to ya..." the spider trailed off and tilted his head, realizing he hadn't gotten the snake's name.

"Naja. Spelled with a J, pronounced with a Y." She adjusted her glasses to get a better look at the spider now that he was standing up, his height aspiring to even reach five feet. She wasn't particularly tall, and she had to look down to see him now that he wasn't on a stool.

"Nice talkin' to ya, Naja. Hope to see you around here again. And my name's Arackniss." He responded, before quickly adding, "But, uh, just call me Niss. It's less cliche."

"I don't suppose there's much hope I could get your number?"

"Well, I currently got my hands full with a snake a' my own, if that's what you're askin'. But..." Niss grabbed a napkin from the bar and pulled a pen from inside his jacket, quickly scribbling a few numbers onto the napkin before handing it to Naja. "...if you ever wanna just, y'know, talk. That's me." 

Niss grabbed his hat from the bar table and started for the door, stopping for a moment next to the spider in the corner.

"Slinger, I know you were listening and takin' notes for those things you write, but delete 'em. That one wasn't for you." 

The spider scoffed and called back out across the bar as Niss continued to make his way to the door "In your dreams, Niss."

"I'm serious, Slinger! I better not see anythin' like this online when I check, and you _know_ I'll check!" 

The two spiders flashed slight grins at each other, like this was some kind of running in-joke between them, then shot each other with imaginary finger-guns before Niss put his hat on and swung the door open.

As the bar door creaked shut behind the spider, Naja turned around in her seat and looked around at the motley crew around the bar. When she'd first entered, they'd all seemed disjointed, non-interactive, but now they seemed oddly connected. They weren't indifferent or lonely, they were just...odd. Odd like she was.

The snake let out a loud sigh.

This was a good place to be a regular.

**Author's Note:**

> Twitter for Polls and Updates: https://twitter.com/Salty_Libra


End file.
